The Start of Something New
by Narwhal's Switchblade
Summary: Light Yagami is a genius who wants to become a famous pianist. L is a detective who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Through the power of drunken karaoke they are brought together. AU LxLight (Based off of High School Musical. Mostly made to poke fun at the rumors of Zac Efron playing Light in the upcoming American Death Note movie)


The Start of Something New

Light had snuck away again to the bar. Not to drink, oh heavens, no. Simply, he just wanted to play the piano, and the bar was the only place he could play in peace without the judgment of his peers, and even those he had never met before.

Throughout the country of Japan, he was known as the top student. Incidentally, the arts were not included in a proper education. Even though Light had no lack of talent towards the arts, particularly the piano, rather than being praised, he was penalized for it.

The true animosity behind his peers' actions was what hurt the most. They made cruel jabs at something that brought Light joy. Such great joy that it must have been impossible for their minuscule imaginations to even begin to comprehend.

And so, almost every night, he would head towards the bar and lose himself in the joy of creating music. Light would leave early each morning with a giddiness to rival that of the most inebriated patron.

Just as it always did, his enthusiasm faded as his plain house came into view; the place where he was trapped.

Light entered his house, and was not surprised in the least to hear his mother's shrilling voice the moment he took one step on the strategically placed carpet directly beyond the door. "Where have you been?" Light's ears cringed from the pitch and volume of her voice.

"Out," he replied coldly, before advancing up the stairs, and entering his room, ignoring the angered sputtering of his mother. The mother who stifled his creativity and only wished him to be her own version of "perfect". Never had she cared about his interests, instead, forcing her own upon him. Certainly Light had the potential, but he did not have the desire to become the best.

He wanted to be known as a pianist; to be known by his true passion. Not a shallow profession that he could never truly enjoy.

Running a hand through his caramel colored hair irritably, Light turned off the lamp intruding upon the darkness he saw behind his closed lids, and lay down to sleep.

x

"Yo, Light! Back here again, are you?" the bartender, Ryuk asked Light. Ignoring the man, Light continued through the doors of the Gods of Death bar. "Light, it's rude to ignore people, you know."

Ryuk had worked at the bar since Light had first started going. He was a relatively good looking guy, with shaggy black hair reaching his collar bone in some places. He had several tattoos reminiscent of rotting flesh adorning the base of his neck, and a chain earring with a metal heart at the end hanging from his left ear lobe. Including his intimidating height of six feet, three inches, he was not a force to be trifled with.

This may have contributed to the fact that he hadn't yet been fired, although he rarely tended to customers. Instead, he sat around in various places drinking appletinis and leering at handsome women and men alike.

Light considered ignoring the annoying man, but upon recognizing it was more trouble than it was worth, walked over and seated himself in front of Ryuk. "Good evening."

Ryuk smirked. "That's better." He leaned forwards and propped his elbows on the counter. "So what's wrong today, Light?"

The teenager glared at the older man. "I do not want to talk about it."

"Fine! I just wanted to help," Ryuk grumbled. "Oh, you came on an excellent night, by the way." Light's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Tonight is karaoke night-"

"No."

"Why not?" Ryuk whined. Light simply frowned and turned away.

As if on cue, a loud voice announced karaoke night, and a skimpily clad woman appeared on stage singing a pop tune terribly off key. As it was, most customers were absurdly intoxicated and didn't mind, but Light certainly did.

"Oh Light," Ryuk began mournfully, obviously noticing the problem Light was hung up on, "will you not right this wrong?"

"I hate you," Light responded with a groan. Despite the girl's horrible singing, Light refused to stand.

Very swiftly, his patience dwindled until he could no longer take listening to the drunks' terrible singing, and stood up. Ryuk cheered as he watched Light walk confidently to the stage and snatch the microphone from the latest failure. Looking through the meager list of song choices, Light quickly came across a song that was infinitely better than the pop music that had been forced down his throat for almost half an hour. _Much _better than that.

Light's foot tapped softly against the wooden floor of the stage, in time to the drum beat that had begun. As soon as the lyrics came on, Light was singing:

_"Hey, girl, you know you drive me crazy  
one look puts the rhythm in my hand.  
Still I'll never understand why you hang around  
I see what's going down._

_"Cover up with makeup in the mirror  
tell yourself, it's never gonna happen again  
You cry alone and then he swears he loves you._

_"Do you feel like a man when you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well, I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's gon' to end  
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found."_

Light grinned self indulgently as he noticed Ryuk at the bar, tapping his fingers on the wooden surface before him. Light launched enthusiastically into the next verse, encouraged by Ryuk.

_"A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect  
every action in this world will bear a consequence  
If you wade around forever, you will surely drown  
I see what's going down._

_"I see the way you go and say you're right again,  
say you're right again  
Heed my lecture._

_"Do you feel like a man when you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well, I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's gon' to end  
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found_

"Face down in the dirt,  
she said, "This doesn't hurt",  
she said, "I finally had enough."

_"Face down in the dirt,  
she said, "This doesn't hurt",  
she said, "I finally had enough."_

_"One day she will tell you that she has had enough  
He's coming round again._

_"Do you feel like a man when you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well, I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's gon' to end  
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found_

_"Do you feel like a man when you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well, I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's gon' to end  
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found_

_"Face down in the dirt,  
she said, "This doesn't hurt",  
she said, "I finally had enough.""_

The crowd burst into applause at the close of his song and Light cracked an exhilarated smile. It had been so long since he had sung in front of people.

Abruptly, Light's grin faded as the hair on the back of his neck prickled. He turned slowly to see a man with spiky raven locks and dark eyes eerily staring at him.

Light's entire body went cold and he repressed a shiver.

"Alright, now, who wants an encore from this handsome young man?"

_No no no no no._ Light's face remained emotionless.

A cheer went up from the crowd, and Ryuk began to cackle delightedly at the poor teenager's distress.

"Do a duet!" a drunken man called out.

It took all of Light's waning patience not to shoot an assassin's glare at the inebriated fool.

"Excellent idea! But let's shake it up a bit!" Light rolled his eyes at the theatrics. "Turn on the light!" Light flinched ever-so-slightly. It was often that he hated his name.

An enormous spot light flashed on, blinding almost all in the audience, all of whom groaned loudly in dismay. The lamp flicked over Light's head and swiveled around for a while before settling on a man.

Not just any man.

The man with the raven hair and terrifying, bulging eyes.

* * *

L was here on a case.

It should have been blatantly obvious that someone of his intellect would never journey to such a place for the beautiful lie of inebriation. His target, however, did not appear to share his sentiments.

He had been prepared for the drunken antics of the general public, but never had he been ready for the horror that was _drunken karaoke._

And then, abruptly, the awful noises ended. L's gaze was drawn out of his book, a recently written crime novel. He, of course, had already solved the murder case, but the plot twists were interesting enough to hold his attention until he reached the end, proving his deduction.

But suddenly _he_ was there. A man with golden brown hair, looking almost red in the club lights.

L had never heard the rock song that blared from the faulty speakers before, but it was catchy, and with the added bonus of the man's smooth tenor, the song sounded like a church choir in the dirty back alleys of the city.

So drawn into his voice, L didn't even realize he had been staring. Even if he had noticed, he wouldn't have stopped, since staring was simply one of his odd quirks.

The teenager's posture straightened almost imperceptibly as he appraised the audience applauding him, from his place upon the dusty stage.

Without warning, the man tensed and his head turned to face L.

Of all the times to be caught staring.

It was childish, but now that they held eye contact, L refused to look away, out of stubbornness and pride. One and the same, really.

The boy switched his point of balance to his right hip, showing his barely concealed annoyance, and he looked away from L.

L hadn't exactly been paying attention, but from years of practice, he had learned to filter thoughts in and out of his mind. He easily looked back through what had been said and realized that the teenager was being pressed for an encore.

A small smirk snuck onto L's face as he watched the boy's misfortune.

Until the huge spotlight hovered over his head.

* * *

**Before I begin, I mean no offense to those that like pop music. Secondly, if you don't know, the song Light sings is Face Down by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.**

**Hi there! This is my first story, and I love Death Note so I decided to do a quick story from there! There's been a ton of rumors about the new Death Note movie coming out in America. One of those is, terrifyingly *Shivers*, that Zac Efron, the lead Troy Bolton from High School Musical, is to play Light Yagami. Of course, many people are upset with this (and I am one of them).**

**As it is, this story doesn't really resemble High School Musical too much, since Death Note is much darker, but the scenes are vaguely based off of (what I can remember from) the movies.**

**The next couple of chapters- there shouldn't be many, really- should be posted as soon as I can. I'd like to guarantee them quickly, but I'm a terrible procrastinator, and _life happens_ *Shivers again*.**

**Until next time,**

**Narwhal's Switchblade.**


End file.
